Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #1 (SPOILERS)

Not at all! It's nice to know these 'touches' get spotted

There's still a few things 'tucked away' I haven't seen anybody comment on yet though....

Ha! That should get us all running back to reread the issue for the umpteenth time!

LOL Well, i've only read it once for now... But there are a few other puzzling appearances in the issue

On the splash page of arms and rings. Whose is the orange sleeve with black mittens? (Timberwolf's?)
And on the opposite side, whose is the grey arm with strange "baubled" gloves next to Lightning Lad's?

On the case with Sun Boy flying away from Theena, there's someone looking very much like Bouncing Boy wearing a red jacket (could be my imagination though)

And zanother mystery I found is in the spalsh page inside Legion HQ (where only Legionnaires are present).

Who's are the metal boots just under the Sunboy case? Threy look a bit like Mon'el's... Whose is the blue cape just under that... And is that a hooded legionnaire at the bottom right? Seems to me there are three legionnaires we have yet to see on this page.

Barry, what is the significance, if any, of the banner above the food booth on the last page? It reads 058 in Interlac. I know that 58 could mean a nod to the year the Legion first appeared. It is the 0 that throws me.

I also hadn't seen anyone mention that one of the senators was named Takron as in Takron-Galtos. And was the Fortean system that Brainy mentioned named after Charles Fort?

Well, since we're pouring over details...
second to last page -- what is that image the girl is holding up?? It looks like an old "UFO" photo -- pollybagged to preserve it?

And in the panel above it, there's a Legion banner on the left side with another smaller Legion banner flying below it, but with an arrow apparently breaking off the bottom part of the "L" -- is that like a subdivision or faction within the group or is it a sign for the toilet, or what??

In that same panel, a guy's holding a cup with writing on it - what does it say?

Why does the new "SP" logo look like a beetle? Is this a hint of Blue Beetle's upcoming prominence in the DCU??

Who/what are "Whirled Brains"?

I took it as a wink and a nod to John Forte...

I'll answer a couple of those..sort of...

'Whirled Brains' is the name of the musical combo my friends and I occasionally (VERY) perform in.

The Girl is holding up an old copy of Adventure Comics...which amazingly Mark recognized and could give me the # of instantly !

Believ it or not I still don't have my copies yet - but the writing on the mug should be the same as on the tented kiosk selling 21st century snacks in the background - I'm hoping it's readable in the finished book! You'll see it more clearly in #3.

I think the odd Legion banner is just accidental (probably my pencils weren't clear enough).

I know I knew what the significance of 058 was when I did it...but my mind's a blank right now (I can tell I'm going to have to keep notes)!

Legion 1#

By. Charles Phipps

Legion 1# I felt the need to comment on because there wasn’t really a thread I felt comfortable posting my review on and I do want to make my thoughts pretty clear on the changes that have been done to the LSH. I want to point out the pros to the new approach, the cons, and what I think might be meant for the Legion as a whole.

The pros of the reboot can be summed up in the fact that I am buying the copy of Legion 1# and purchasing a new subscription. I am a “new fan” so to speak because I never really shined to the Legion before and couldn’t be called a fan. To be honest, I thought the Legion was hokey, a bunch of white bread kids in a Star trek future, and quite frankly wasn’t ‘tough’. This has also encouraged me to go back and buy back issues amongst other things. I also have to thank my Mutants and Masterminds gamers for their help in setting me straight.

I don’t know what it says truly that the re-imagining has me appreciating the older Legion as well as the newer version. On the other hand, this also makes me unable to understand the problem people have with the racial switches of folk like Starboy. I am introduced to these folk as they are before I see them as they were.

The Art is very good personally and I like the fact that they are doing a very strong effort to keep everyone distinct throughout the comic.

I am a tad annoyed we didn’t focus on the “Classic Trio” though. I knew them as the iconic Legionaires and even before I was a fan, I liked Imra Aldeen from our DCU RPG and her appearances in Superboy II‘s comic (I was a huge fan of his). Cosmic Boy made an appearance but Imra and Lighting Lad should have places just as important as his.

The re-imagining of the Legion as essentially ‘Pro-Freedom’ radicals is a departure that’s stronger than many may think. After all, they were a UP funded group before. The organization we may need to find out probably started out as a Brand supported superhero group but my guess is that some wrong comments and their own popularity have lead to a great deal of young fandom that has since tried to turn it into political reactionism. I have the feeling that the Legion is generally “Pro-United Planets” but very anti-nationalistic planetary governments.

In that respect, the government crackdown on Lallor makes sense. The Legion is composed of everyone who hates the way things are on their planet with plenty of people belonging to the Green Peace like pan-country organization that many governments would see as extremely threatening to their way of life. Daxam being the white triangley folk they are (from DCU encyclopedia my knowledge comes only) would of course ban this.

I think that the story may be personally too violent for general success though. The Legion’s whitebreadness also made them fairly lovable in some ways (hugs his Saturn Girl). At least from what I’ve read. They were good kids and not liable to make the mistakes that the new group seems like its going to be prone to make. I don’t much care necessarily for the Tianamen-square and massacre “homages” in Legion. You should only use imagery that powerful for when you have a message. Not to sell books. Still, I like the idea that they are encouraging youth to think as a message if they have any message at all.

Some concerns I also have are the fact that the characters will either lose their most wonderful storylines or the storylines will be essentially re-hased in terms of development. Retellings can be great like "Return to Krypton" in Superman but Waid has said he won't do that. What is Projecta without Karate Kid though? I do hope we can avoid Garth's Charlie Brown status though...or the idea he's possessed by a sentient Jelly Bean that's seduced his mourning girlfriend.

I’m quite optimistic about the book at this point but I do hope we’ll see more of Miss Aldeen.

7/10

Geez, you hit it on the head.

While DNA seduced me back to the Legion, I rapidly lost interest in their run when the series was restarted. The finale to Ra's Al Ghul - their 1st story arc - was SO anticlimactic. Looking back, I suspect that the wheels were already turning to restart the Legion from scratch.

With this Legion, I have to say, it's been hard for me to read through the whole book in one sitting. I tend to read sections. Some of that has to do with the colors, which mute terribly - for me- the glorious details that Barry is putting into the work. I don't like looking at the panels for too long because very little on them is 'popping' for me. Everything in the panels - from the characters to the technology to the environment - seems to be of equal importance. I believe (not being totally fluent in all aspects of art production) that this is largely due to coloring palettes, but it's possible that there's too much in the panels (ironically, i'm normally complaining that comics have too little background in the panels).

I understand that Waid/Kitson et. al. are establishing a world - one familiar yet different to what we know - but I don't need to be submerged into its vastness so quickly. Buy me a drink or something before tossing me in.

I will say this: that 7-page preview story is gonna make a beautiful into sequence to the trade paperback of this 1st arc. SO I HOPE DC PUTS OUT SOME LEGION TPBS REGULARLY!!!

Oh, I do REALLY like how Waid/Kitson et. al. are focusing on small groups that overlap. I feel like there's a better understanding of the characters of each Legionnaire when they get screen time.

And the Element Lad power display, for me, is really cool. He only got a couple panels, but I'm most interested in seeing him in future fights - maybe working with and contrasting with the other tactile Legionnaires (i.e. Karate Kid) and/or the other quasi-mystics (i.e. Projectra).

I WANT TO SEE SOME ORIGINAL VILLAINS AND HEROES!!!

Bring on the future!!!

You still don't have your copies yet, Barry??

How 'bout I just loan you mine and when you're done, you can just sign it and mail it back to me.

;P

That was a back cover ad for an Aurora model kit of the Flying Saucer from the old Invaders TV Series right? Mark could tell you the # of the comic based on the back cover?!? I'm impressed.

Hi guys
I think that's the first time anyone has suggested I put less detail in....apart from Steve Wacker!

I'll ask Steve if DC will act as go-between if anyone wants to send copies in for signing. If they're not - I'll try to come up with some other means

I've almost got used to Mark's scary ability to remember EVERYTHING about comics - I even tested him on being able to tell me what issue I was looking at by telling him what adds were on the inside of the cover once - he was near perfect with that too....he was out by one issue on one occasion!

LOL
i know it's strange, Barry, to ask for LESS detail --and this could be a coloring issue -- but it's real dense panel-work so i get lost in it... maybe a slight emphasis on a pivotal character in the panels so they'd be more prominent might help break it up for me and add to the dynamism (for instance, i enjoyed the sequences most when the characters were allowed to act over a couple panels in a row, rather than the single hero per panel sections) ... i know you're going for a non-superhero feel to the book -- it 'reads' more like a sci fi novel dense with information, very distant from the current trends of comic book superheroes

(i imagine the trade as being one of those oversized hardcovers and i get fanboy-giddy)

the scene introducing the Legion rec room was ideal for me - i felt like i could take a breath and be inside the world you've crafted

the design work in the costumes is STILL fabulous and i want to see how you envision other heroes, villains and characters in this future - how they might be similar or defiantly different from the sleekness of the Legionnaires

and of course it's going to be interesting when the 'liberation' legion faces up to their own conformity trends -- i.e. the codenames, costumes, attracting mostly humanoid-races (and caucasian ones at that - which would probably be a rarity on other planets unless they have radically different evolutions & environs ... even on earth, the human population is over 50% non-white) ... it would be extremely cool to see a group of Legionnaires who buck the trends of the overall group -- the nonconformists, if you will -- maybe Dawnstar, Chemical King, Wildfire, Quislet, Gates, Spider Girl, Comet Queen???

ahhh, this waiting is torture! on other books, i wait for the trades and i really enjoy the whole package -- this is one where i get more curious about your nefarious and beautiful plans

although DC should let you design the TPB cover too

FINALLY read LSH #1, and don't have a whole lot to add, except to say that I started off wanting to hate this. I wanted sooo bad. I dislike reboots. Especially this one, which seems wholly unnecessary.

That said, I really liked this issue. The writing, the art, it's all excellent. The book itself is good, it still sits ill with me though, what had to be lost to get here, and likely will for a long time. At least until Zoe turns up, more or less the same.

J

You should be happy they got rid of the abomination that Kinetix had become. I swear, DnA did more annoying stuff to the members and it only ended up making the series painful to read near the end.

Maybe you'll get a fresh Kinetix eventually...or at least another redhead.

I lend #1 to a bud and still haven't seen it. I better get it back tommorrow or I will start breaking fingers.

On a Kinetix note...never liked her...EVER. Whenever I chimed in on the ZH Legion (which i hated) she was something new...well a magical cat once or something. Her last incarnation of nature amazon was the most interesting to me...but still don't care for her. I will start a new post about her...cause I noticed she had lots of fans.

Jorge

I think Kinetix is a cool concept that has yet to see fruition - I like her powers, I like her look (well, most of them), I like the fact that she has a light, bubbly personality, but to me she has yet to actually be a character. There's enough there to go on, but who knows if someone will want to take her on. The only benefit to being not as well formed as some of the others is that Waid might want to be able to play around with her (so to speak) in a way that he wouldn't be able to with more established Legionnaires.

Hi gang.

I've had very little to add to the LSH debate but have been lurking. What a great first issue. I keep re-reading it just cause it makes me feel good! <g> Very intrigued to see where it all goes.

There's one little art glitch I've noticed that I don't _think_ anyone's mentioned. Sun Boy and Invisible Kid bump into Chameleon and then go into the headquarters a panel later, where Cham is already sitting playing chess. A bad jump cut? Or a forerunner of DC's company wide summer Crisis crossover? You be the judge..... :-)

Cham was heading to the rec room to meet KK when Sun Boy and IK saw him...they followed him at a discreet distance....so Sun Boy could tell IK about Cham's....er nature.

That's my excuse - and I'm sticking to it!

Glad you enjoyed the issue!

To all you Zoe naysayers: Nyah!

As for her ending incarnation... Yeah, I wasn't too pleased there. Far too often she got put on the sidelines or went catatonic or non-communicative. Probably helping some folks' sense of her not being a fully-realised character.

I personally liked her effervescent nature, mixed with a seemingly darker side desiring more power, even if she did only want it to do more good.

Good intentions, and all that...

But I digress, since this is not the topic for this. =)

J

I thought the character had a lot of promise but got messed with too much.

The "magical cat" look I always took to be a nod towards anime/manga, where such a look is a staple of the genre.

Cham doesn't seem to be the greatest player, either, since E-Lad is at the Chess board when word arrives about Lallor. Or maybe E-Lad just asked Cham to switch, since he does not seem to be able to figure out the Foosball table.

Looking forward to the issue. Yes, I have read through all 17 pages..... mostly!!

Haven't been around for a while, been working on some art work and working my butt off.

Great, so now I'm a sexless freak!! OK, I can handle that!!

Update from coworker who read the book. He never read a Legion issue before but is a big DC fan.

He liked it. He said it wasn't WOW but he can tell they were setting up alot and is interested to see how this arc turns out.

He loved the art as well.

Jorge